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Deep Green: Atomic renaissance interrupted | Greenpeace UK

Nuclear renaissance interrupted Rex Weyler
Nuclear economics This year, billionaire investment wizard Warren Buffett withdrew financial support for a US nuclear reactor in Idaho, killing the project. Why? Nuclear power is not economical.A full accounting of nuclear power remains obscured by billions in public subsidy and still-uncertain costs of processing waste and decommissioning plants. Nevertheless, Amory Lovins and Imran Sheikh calculate a kilowatt-hour of electricity from a new nuclear power plant averages about 14 cents compared to a wind farm at 7 cents. Even this calculation does not account for capital financing, security, waste disposal, insurance, or public health impacts. No nuclear plant is insured, even with public guarantees, to the full cost of a Chernobyl scale accident, which becomes an unbudgeted liability on the public’s balance sheet……………………….. Of 36 current nuclear construction projects, 14 remain stalled and most of the surviving projects are state-owned in Russia, China, and India. There is no business case for nuclear power except to socialise costs, privatise profits, and leave the garbage for future generations. In the US alone, 104 “private” nuclear power projects have received over $130 billion in taxpayer subsidies, over $1 billion per reactor. Billions more will be needed to solve the nuclear waste backlog.

Deep Green: Atomic renaissance interrupted | Greenpeace UK

December 4, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs